Evidence based
, medical review by Dr. Bret Scher, MD
Evidence basedKey takeaways
High-satiety meat, poultry & eggs: the best options
Evidence based
, medical review by Dr. Bret Scher, MD Evidence basedEating meat, poultry, and eggs can help you lose weight without going hungry. Why? They provide a lot of satiety — the feeling of being full and satisfied — so you naturally take in fewer calories. Plus, these tasty foods are rich in protein and other essential nutrients.
In this guide, we provide satiety scores for different types of meat, poultry, and eggs, so you can see which options maximize fullness while minimizing calories. How do your favorites measure up?
What are high-satiety foods?
High-satiety foods help you feel as full as possible for the fewest number of calories. In other words, they provide high satiety per calorie.
As part of our higher-satiety eating approach, we assign all foods a satiety score from 0 to 100. The score is calculated using four factors related to satiety:
- Protein percentage: the percentage of a food’s calories that come from protein rather than fat and carbs. Protein is an essential nutrient that reduces hunger and helps you feel full.For this reason, protein percentage is given the most weight when calculating the satiety score.
- Energy density: the calories (or energy) in a specific weight of food, such as 100 grams (3.5 ounces). Studies show that eating less-dense foods leads to eating less.
- Fiber: the non-digestible portion of carbs that can stretch your stomach and help you feel full.
- Hedonic factor: a score reduction for the decadent foods that can drive overeating.
What’s a “good” satiety score? Any food that scores from 40 to 59 provides moderate satiety per calorie. Foods that score 60 or above are considered high-satiety foods. Fortunately, many types of meat, poultry, and eggs have satiety scores above 60.
Also, if you eat filling foods that you truly like, you won’t feel as though you’re “on a diet.” Keep this in mind as you look at the satiety scores. You don’t have to choose foods at the very top of each list! Just aim for protein foods with scores of 60 or above most of the time.
You can also combine high-satiety protein foods with smaller amounts of lower-satiety foods like cheese, or butter or oil for food preparation. This will add enjoyment to your meal and result in an average score of about 50 — a good overall score for higher-satiety eating. For more information, please see our guide, Introducing our new satiety score.
Want to delve deeper into the world of satiety? Head over to our sister brand Hava to explore the free version of the satiety calculator.
More high-satiety guides:
Meat
Red meat — such as beef, pork, and lamb — is packed with high-quality protein and essential vitamins and minerals like potassium and magnesium. According to studies, eating red meat may also help you lose weight without cravings.
Leaner cuts like sirloin tend to have higher satiety scores than fattier cuts like ribeye. This means that you’ll likely end up taking in fewer calories if you choose a lean steak instead of a fattier one, while feeling similarly full.
But remember, it’s important to enjoy what you eat. And, with a few exceptions, even the fattier cuts of red meat have impressive satiety scores. As you’ll see, you’ve got a wide range of options to choose from.
Here are the satiety scores and grams of protein per 100-gram (3.5-ounce) serving of cooked meat — about the size of a deck of cards.
Beef
69
Top sirloin steak
About 29 grams of protein per serving
74
Filet mignon
About 29 grams of protein per serving
77
Liver
About 28 grams of protein per serving*
73
Lean ground beef
(93% lean)
About 26 grams of protein per serving
66
Ground beef
(85% lean)
About 24 grams of protein per serving
62
New York
strip steak
About 24 grams of protein
61
Ground beef (75% lean)
About 25 grams of protein per serving
48
Brisket
About 27 grams of protein per serving
60
Ribeye steak
About 22 grams of protein
56
Prime rib
About 22 grams of protein per serving
* limit liver to one serving per week due to its high vitamin A content
Pork
79
Pork tenderloin
About 28 grams of protein per serving
88
Extra-lean ground pork*
About 29 grams of protein per serving
75
Pork chops
About 27 grams of protein
79
Pork roast
About 28 grams of protein per serving
70
Ground pork (85% lean)
About 29 grams of protein per serving
79
Pork shoulder
About 27 grams of protein
60
Ground pork (72% lean)
About 23 grams of protein per serving
40
Pork ribs
About 20 grams of protein per serving
46
Pork belly
About 17 grams of protein
* (95% lean/5% fat)
Lamb
85
Lamb tenderloin
About 31 grams of protein per serving
83
Leg of lamb
About 27 grams of protein per serving
81
Lamb shank
About 29 grams of protein
41
Lamb chop
About 28 grams of protein per serving
(two to three lamb chops)
Veal
87
Veal sirloin
About 26 grams of protein per serving
86
Ground veal
About 24 grams of protein per serving
82
Veal rib
About 24 grams of protein
Bison and buffalo
89
Top round buffalo
About 31 grams of protein per serving
85
Bison top round steak
About 30 grams of protein per serving
80
Ground bison
About 26 grams of protein
High-satiety meat recipes
Poultry
Chicken and turkey are excellent for satiety-based eating. In fact, research suggests a poultry-rich diet can be beneficial for weight loss.
Like red meat, poultry provides a nice dose of vitamins and minerals in addition to protein. Plus, chicken and turkey are widely available and generally more affordable than most types of red meat.
Should you choose light meat (breast) or dark meat (thighs, legs, or wings)? No matter which part you prefer, chicken and turkey have great satiety scores across the board — whether you eat the skin or not. By contrast, duck and goose without skin have high satiety scores; with skin, their scores are moderate.
Chicken
Here are the satiety scores and grams of protein per 100-gram (3.5-ounce) serving of cooked chicken:
79
Skinless chicken
breast
About 31 grams of protein per serving
(approximately half of a large chicken breast)
88
Chicken drumstick
without skin
About 26 to 28 grams of protein per serving
(approximately two medium drumsticks)
77
Chicken breast
with skin
About 31 grams of protein per serving
(approximately half of a large chicken breast)
78
Chicken liver
About 26 grams of protein per serving
(limit liver to one serving per week due to its high vitamin A content)
61
Chicken wing without skin
About 31 grams of protein per serving
(approximately five wings)
64
Chicken thigh without skin
About 26 grams of protein per serving
(approximately one medium chicken thigh)
70
Chicken drumstick with skin
About 27 grams of protein per serving
(approximately two medium drumsticks)
64
Chicken thigh with skin
About 26 of protein per serving
(approximately one medium chicken thigh)
55
Chicken wing with skin
About 23 grams of protein per serving
(approximately three wings)
Turkey
Here are the satiety scores and grams of protein per 100-gram (3.5-ounce) serving of cooked turkey — about the size of a deck of cards:
78
Skinless turkey
breast
About 28 grams of protein per serving
74
Turkey drumstick
without skin
About 29 grams of protein per serving
77
Turkey breast
with skin
About 27 grams of protein
73
Lean ground turkey
(93% lean)
About 28 grams of protein per serving
73
Regular ground turkey
(85% lean)
About 29 grams of protein per serving
Other poultry
Here are the satiety scores and grams of protein per 100-gram (3.5-ounce) serving of cooked poultry — about the size of a deck of cards:
83
Goose (skin not eaten)
About 29 grams of protein per serving
60
Duck (skin not eaten)
About 26 grams of protein per serving
56
Goose (skin eaten)
About 21 grams of protein
52
Duck (skin not eaten)
About 21 grams of protein per serving
High-satiety poultry recipes
Deli and prepared meats
Deli and prepared meats — also referred to as processed meats — have been cured, smoked, or dried. They’re often considered less healthy than fresh meat, even though claims linking processed meats to health problems are based on very weak observational evidence.
However, most deli and prepared meats have low satiety scores because they’re low in protein and high in fat.
The good news is, several processed meats provide higher satiety per calorie. So most of the time, choose types with satiety scores of 60 or above, and indulge in the lower-scoring options less often. Here are the satiety scores and grams of protein per 100-gram (3.5-ounce) serving of deli and prepared meats (about the size of a deck of cards), unless otherwise noted.
76
Canadian (pork loin) bacon
About 28 grams of protein per serving
86
Extra-lean ham (5% fat)
About 23 grams of protein per serving
68
Pastrami
About 22 grams of protein per serving
78
Prosciutto
About 28 grams of protein per serving
81
Regular ham (11% fat)
About 23 grams of protein per serving
59
Corned beef
About 22 grams of protein per serving
66
Chicken or turkey sausage
About 22 grams of protein per serving (approximately four to six links, depending on the size)
48
Turkey bacon
About 23 grams of protein per 2-ounce (60-gram) serving
(approximately four slices)
44
Bacon
About 17 grams of protein per 2-ounce (60-gram) serving
(approximately six slices)
42
Salami
About 20 grams of protein per serving (approximately 10 medium slices)
53
Pork sausage
About 17 grams of protein per serving (approximately four to six medium links)
33
Chorizo
About 17 grams of protein per serving (approximately one-half cup)
32
Liverwurst
About 20 grams of protein per serving (approximately 10 medium slices)
38
Spam
About 17 grams of protein per serving (approximately four to six medium links)
26
Hot dog
About 17 grams of protein per serving (approximately one-half cup)
High-satiety processed meat recipes
Eggs
If you’re looking for a high-satiety food that’s inexpensive, versatile, and tasty, consider eggs. Several studies show that protein-rich eggs can help you feel full for hours.
Yes, eggs are a breakfast staple. But feel free to enjoy them anytime and prepared in any way — poached, scrambled, fried, or hard-boiled.
Should you go for egg whites or whole eggs? Egg whites provide protein for fewer calories than whole eggs, but whole eggs are undeniably tastier, and they contain more vitamins and minerals than egg whites. Also, although egg yolks are high in cholesterol, they usually don’t raise blood cholesterol levels much.
Overall, whole eggs — or a combination of whole eggs and egg whites — may provide the most enjoyable satiety-based eating experience.
More good news? Frying eggs in a small amount of butter or bacon fat only reduces their satiety score a little bit.
Here are the satiety scores and grams of protein per 100-gram (3.5-ounce) serving of eggs.
89
Egg whites
11 grams of protein per serving (three large egg whites)
62
Whole eggs
12 grams of protein per serving (two large eggs)
52
Spinach omelet
(3 eggs, 1 ounce of cheese, and 1 cup of spinach fried in 1 teaspoon of fat)
50
Whole eggs fried in 1 teaspoon of fat
12 grams of protein per serving (two large egg whites)
39
Egg yolks
16 grams of protein per serving (six large egg yolks)
High-satiety egg recipes
High-satiety meal plan
Do you want a week’s worth of delicious, high-satiety meals that are ready in 15 minutes or less? Check out our meal plan:
![Keto skillet lasagna]()
Mon![Low carb salmon and zoodles in blue cheese sauce]()
Tue![Juicy Lucy (cheese stuffed) burger with wax-bean fries]()
Wed![Oven-baked chicken breast and radishes with thyme butter]()
Thu![Salmon laksa]()
Fri![Quick green curry chicken with peanuts]()
Sat![Steak with creamed spinach]()
Sun
Summary
Nearly all types of meat, poultry, and eggs are excellent for higher-satiety eating. In addition to helping you feel full, these foods taste good and are rich in protein and other essential nutrients.
To lose weight in a healthy way without feeling hungry or deprived, include one of your favorite high-satiety options at every meal.